Health officials track dozens who left virus-stricken ship after first fatality

Health authorities on four continents are tracking and monitoring dozens of passengers who left the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius before the deadly outbreak was detected, and they are scrambling to identify anyone who may have had contact with them since. Three people have died — a Dutch couple and a German woman — and several others are sick, officials said Thursday, as the World Health Organization warned that the risk to the wider public remains low.

“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries,” said Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO’s alert and response director.

Outbreak traced to April 11 death, but dozens left ship before detection

The first death occurred on April 11, when a Dutch man died on board the Hondius while it was sailing between Chile and the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. His body and his wife, who also was ill, were taken off the ship at St. Helena on April 24. The woman flew to South Africa the next day and died there, according to Dutch and South African officials.

Oceanwide Expeditions, the Netherlands-based operator of the vessel, said Thursday that a total of 30 passengers — including the Dutch couple — left the ship at St. Helena on April 24. The Dutch Foreign Ministry put the number at about 40. The company had not previously disclosed that so many people left the ship on that date, which was the scheduled end of the cruise for some passengers.

At the time, the virus had not been identified. It was not until May 2 — eight days after the mass disembarkation — that a British man evacuated from the ship to South Africa on April 29 tested positive for hantavirus, the WHO said. The man remains in intensive care in South Africa.

Contacts monitored across multiple countries

With passengers scattered across at least 12 countries, public health officials are now racing to find and monitor anyone who may have been exposed, including people who came into contact with them after they left the ship.

Singaporean authorities said they are monitoring two men who disembarked at St. Helena, flew to South Africa and then returned home. The two men, who arrived on different days, were being isolated and tested. In Switzerland, a man who also left the ship at St. Helena tested positive for hantavirus; his movements after disembarking are being investigated.

South Africa is focused on tracing passengers and crew who came into contact with infected passengers on an April 25 flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg. The Dutch woman who died was on that flight, and a French citizen identified as a contact case later showed “benign symptoms” and was placed in isolation, the French Health Ministry said.

On St. Helena, the small British territory where the disembarkation occurred, officials said a small number of people considered high-risk contacts were ordered to isolate for 45 days.

Possible first transmission off the ship

In the Netherlands, a flight attendant who boarded the South Africa-to-Europe plane that briefly carried the infected Dutch woman has shown symptoms of hantavirus and was being tested in an isolation ward at an Amsterdam hospital, Dutch health officials said. If confirmed, she would be the first known person not on the Hondius to become infected in the outbreak.

The ship, with more than 140 passengers and crew still on board, is now sailing to Spain’s Canary Islands and is expected to arrive Saturday or Sunday. None of those on board are currently symptomatic, the operator said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday he had been in regular contact with the ship’s captain and that morale improved once the vessel began moving again.

Andes virus and origin investigation

Tests have confirmed that at least five people on the ship were infected with the Andes hantavirus, found in South America. It is the only hantavirus known to spread between people and can cause a severe and often fatal lung disease. The WHO stressed that the virus is not easily transmitted and that the risk to the wider public is low.

Investigators suspect the outbreak originated in Argentina. The Dutch couple, who were the first cases, had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and visited sites where the rodent species that carries Andes virus lives. Argentina’s Health Ministry has focused its investigation on the town of Ushuaia but had not yet dispatched a team as of Thursday, according to the ministry. Once there, experts will analyze rodents at a local trash heap, officials said. The WHO has arranged to ship 2,500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to laboratories in five countries.